Why won't John Calvin die?

Does the success of his theology come despite its forbidding demands, or because of them?

Actor Michel Kullman performs under a statue of John Calvin at Geneva's Reformation Wall, during a rehearsal for the commemorative spectacle 'Calvin – Geneva in flames' on June 28, 2009 in Geneva. Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images

This Friday is the 500th anniversary of John Calvin's birth, and the tradition he founded is still in pretty good shape. There are something like 80 million Calvinists around the world, grouped in slightly fewer denominations. This is extraordinary to an English mindset.

Calvinism here is a shrinking religion of the backward fringes: something for dour Scots at best and Paisleyites at worst.

Yet all around the world, the austere certainties of Calvinism continue to thrive. So is this despite their forbidding demands, or because of them? Perhaps the secret is not theology at all, but organisation. Must Calvinism always be opposed to joy and justice? What is it that accounts for the success of the ideas of John Calvin, when so many of his contemporaries among the reformers are forgotten?

Monday's response

Justin Thacker: Calvin removed spiritual authority from the privileged few and put into the hands of the people, an idea that continues to resonate

Wednesday's response

Nick Spencer: Strange as it may seem, in Calvinism we can detect the birth pangs of modern constitutional democracy

Friday's response

Peter Thompson: Strange as it may seem, Calvinism, or at least some form of it, is an absolute precondition for the democratisation of society